1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to alerting devices, and more particularly to color alerting devices for obtaining a user's attention upon the occurrence of an event.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of wireless communication is increasing at an exponential rate, and as such there have been many attempts among service providers and manufacturers of the hardware implemented in wireless systems to provide options to the users that enable more convenient and more user friendly and discrete access to the available services. Among these attempts have been the implementation of alternative methods for alerting the user of the occurrence of a particular event, and more specifically the presence of an incoming communication signal. For example, with radio paging devices, the user generally has two options for setting the alert type when an incoming page is received: (i) an audible tone to indicate the presence of an incoming page, or (ii) a vibration mode to vibrate the device when an incoming page is received. The vibration mode of the radio pager serves the same function of seeking the user's attention when an incoming page is received but does so in a silent manner so as to not disturb the user or persons proximate the user when the page is received.
Some wireless telephones provide a similar vibration mode for indicating the presence of an incoming telephone call. The vibration mode has been implemented into these devices primarily to provide the user with the option of turning off the audible tones generated by the radio pager or wireless telephone so as to prevent inconvenient audible disturbances in a variety of different places, such as office meetings, libraries, movies, shows and any other place or circumstance that the user deems appropriate to eliminate the audible tones generated by the respective devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,861,686 to Lee discloses a device for generating waking vibrations or sounds. The device is implemented into alarm watches or in communications equipment such as cellular pagers or phones. The device utilizes an electromagnet, a coil and first and second sets of vibration members in a ring case. These elements are connected to a printed circuit board (PCB) of the device (e.g. watch, phone or pager) and, together, enable the selective generation of vibratory motion when the device receives an incoming call or, in the case of a watch, for implementing an alarm function.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,619,181 to Murray discloses a vibratory alerting device with audible sound generator. The alerting device simultaneously generates a vibration alert and an audible alert to notify the user as to the presence of an incoming call on a portable communication device such as a pager or wireless telephone.
As mentioned previously, the use of an audible alert signal can be undesirable when the user is located in a place or situation in which an audible alert signal might be considered an interruption. In addition, the devices used to implement a vibratory alert signal in a communication device are generally bulky in nature and have mechanical moving parts which require additional space within the device and thereby increase the size of the device. Furthermore, all of the existing alerting devices (e.g., audible and vibratory) are contained within the communication device (i.e., phone or pager) and therefor require the user to be carrying the same in order to receive the alerting signal.
It would be advantageous to provide a more discrete alerting device that is not physically connected or disposed within the user's communication device. This would enable the user to be alerted as to the presence of an incoming communication signal without requiring them to carry the communication device.